Steve Ashley and Loren Ridinger delivered an incredible presentation that can take your business to a whole new level. Social media is all about doing the things you do anyway—being social! It’s fun and perfect for the kind of people who get involved with Market America, and social media is just a way of amplifying your voice. Social shopping is simply recommending something like a restaurant, a movie, or a makeup product, and with Market America, you’ll get paid on that recommendation.
“The way we make friends and influence people hasn’t changed, but where we do it has.”—Loren Ridinger
The daily online conversation on Facebook adds up to 1,330 years in time and involves your customers, your volunteers, your employees, your critics, your fans, and your competition. You have the power to define and control your brand, to be a part of the conversation, and to make the word-of-mouth connections that will grow your business. When Loren and Steve asked the audience to stand to demonstrate how many of them were already using these tools, it’s clear that the MA family is already engaged and capable of using social media—but are you using it to your best business advantage?
“Social is sharing, sharing is telling, telling is selling.”—Steve Ashley
Being a part of those conversations helps you to create buzz, identify and recruit influencers, and find new opportunities and customers, as well as retain existing clients and improve your visibility. Doing this the right way means stepping away from the old monologue model of advertising, and engaging your customers as people—“Do more than pitch!” Steve emphasized. Take customer input and run contests, use it for announcements to post great Hot Deals, and write in a way that’s engaging and fun to read. DON’T delete comments—hear the feedback, be responsive, and try to make it better, because one bad customer experience has an outsize impact online.
While the entire presentation will be available for reference on UnFranchise, a few main points to keep in mind:
–Seek out customers who are unhappy with other vendors and reach out to them, offering them a chance to try your product and improve their experience.
–When you hear a wave of feedback, listen—think of the Bank of America fee, or Netflix’s price increases and segmented service, where companies backed down in the face of negative comments.
–Use Twitter to start relationships that grow through other social media sites and can turn into real relationships.
–Twitter.com/search is the most powerful lead generator out there. Search phrases like “need new eye shadow” “need to lose weight” “vitamins”—add a location search to find conversations on these topics in London, or around the country, and start conversations with people about topics you know they’re interested in!
–Tweet what you want to attract
–Mobilize LinkedIn as a professional network, particularly if you’re reaching out to doctors and professional entrepreneurs.
–Facebook isn’t just about your friends, it’s about your friends-of-friends and which of them will have friends that might be interested in your products. Search in the same way as Twitter for public posts about key topics “weight loss” “vitamins” etc., for everyone posting, not just your friends.
–Don’t be afraid of hosting social events the old-fashioned way—you can demonstrate makeup, show them the sites, test products, and so on, and reaffirm your connections with your customers and friends to help build great word of mouth.